My OperaLA SIERRA, ARISTIDE, and cine-politics
Thursday, November 10, 2005 4:56:35 AM
This evening - Thursday November 10 - the Pioneer returns to Colombia for LA SIERRA, a documentary portrait from that country's burning ground. Exactly a week later, we travel north to Haiti (and beyond) with ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution.
Superficially, at least for a gringo like me, the two films have a lot in common. Both are passionate, politically charged documentary portraits. Both are clearly hard fought portraits made by filmmakers portraying a land with which they are fascinated but to which they are foreign. Both are set in Latin American countries that have endured political and military chaos for decades.
But despite those superficial similarities, the differences are much deeper. Most obviously of course Colombia and Haiti are radically different places - one a continental, mountainous country, whose main language is Spanish, while the other is an island nation whose main language is Creole, a pidgin language formed from shards of French and West African languages. And of course the histories of the two countries are radically different. And on and on.
The two films' approaches to their subjects are also radically different, though in an instructive way. LA SIERRA is one of those films that sort of moves in and lives with the characters. You get to know their personal rhythms, their flaws, their quirks. Their favorite weapons. The film doesn't really take sides in their conflicts, it just observes. (That is, I admit, if memory serves; I saw the film quite some time ago.) ARISTIDE, on the other hand, is advocacy. After ARISTIDE, I didn't feel like I knew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the twice deposed dictator of Haiti, as a man. I knew him as a cause. The middle ground, I suppose, would be a film like THE PRIVATE ARCHIVES OF PABLO ESCOBAR, which we showed a bit over a year ago. There, you knew Escobar's causes - philanthropy and social welfare as well as dealing cocaine - but you also got to know him as a man who liked to waterski.
Both films have their merits. It will be interesting to see the reactions. Given the breadth of human portrait in LA SIERRA, I don't really expect all that many people to be upset after the film. I think it's more a film that moves people as people, while they relate to the film's characters. But after ARISTIDE, that advocate film, I think we'll see some tempers flare.
LA SIERRA
Village Voice review
NY Times review (registration required)
Thanks to our friends at Cinema Tropical, Slamdance, and First Run for their help getting the word out on LA SIERRA.
ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution
(opens next week)
Superficially, at least for a gringo like me, the two films have a lot in common. Both are passionate, politically charged documentary portraits. Both are clearly hard fought portraits made by filmmakers portraying a land with which they are fascinated but to which they are foreign. Both are set in Latin American countries that have endured political and military chaos for decades.
But despite those superficial similarities, the differences are much deeper. Most obviously of course Colombia and Haiti are radically different places - one a continental, mountainous country, whose main language is Spanish, while the other is an island nation whose main language is Creole, a pidgin language formed from shards of French and West African languages. And of course the histories of the two countries are radically different. And on and on.
The two films' approaches to their subjects are also radically different, though in an instructive way. LA SIERRA is one of those films that sort of moves in and lives with the characters. You get to know their personal rhythms, their flaws, their quirks. Their favorite weapons. The film doesn't really take sides in their conflicts, it just observes. (That is, I admit, if memory serves; I saw the film quite some time ago.) ARISTIDE, on the other hand, is advocacy. After ARISTIDE, I didn't feel like I knew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the twice deposed dictator of Haiti, as a man. I knew him as a cause. The middle ground, I suppose, would be a film like THE PRIVATE ARCHIVES OF PABLO ESCOBAR, which we showed a bit over a year ago. There, you knew Escobar's causes - philanthropy and social welfare as well as dealing cocaine - but you also got to know him as a man who liked to waterski.
Both films have their merits. It will be interesting to see the reactions. Given the breadth of human portrait in LA SIERRA, I don't really expect all that many people to be upset after the film. I think it's more a film that moves people as people, while they relate to the film's characters. But after ARISTIDE, that advocate film, I think we'll see some tempers flare.
LA SIERRA
Village Voice review
NY Times review (registration required)
Thanks to our friends at Cinema Tropical, Slamdance, and First Run for their help getting the word out on LA SIERRA.
ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution
(opens next week)
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